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영어

This essay seeks to examine the artistic relationship between Nietzsche, Lawrence and Artaud. Their common ground is that they are all Dionysian artists. Despite their marked differences, for them the Dionysian vision of the cosmic cruelty are the ultimate ‘reality’ of life. Nietzsche, Lawrence and Artaud are closely connected in terms of the Dionysian vision of life. Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy, Artaud’s ‘Theatre of Cruelty’ and Lawrence’s Mexican (Aztec) Myth in The Plumed Serpent are designed to promote their life-affirming vision by revealing the fundamental ‘reality’ of life. Their Dionysian vision of life is associated with the cosmic cruelty of the mysterious pagan world. The ancient religious rites and rituals (in ancient Greece, North American Indian rituals and Aztec myth) were created as the artistic sublimation of natural cruelty. This version of the Dionysian vision guides us to look into the terrible destructiveness of ‘real’ history, as well as the inhuman cruelty of nature. The revelation of cosmic cruelty exposes an absolute determination to unravel all the false images which surround us. Thus, the presence of the cosmic cruelty artistically drives us to ‘see’ the hidden truth of life. This cruel vision dynamically reveals the uncanny ‘reality’ that we resist seeing while we are trapped in our accustomed life. Influenced by Nietzsche, both of Lawrence and Artaud create their own ‘Dionysian vision of the cosmic cruelty’ through their innovative art-works. According to them, the total destruction of Dionysian ‘reality’ is a necessary precondition for achieving new vitality and spirituality for mankind.